A Different Point of View
by Eaglehaze
Summary: This is what happened in the twenty years of Valka living with the dragons. See how it plays out, how she reacted, and the thoughts that run through her head as she struggles through inner wars to decide what is right.
1. Chapter 1

"Stoick!"

"Valka!"

"Stoick!"

Valka watched, her life being torn from her by the cruel, sharp claws of this dragon. This wretched, cold-hearted dragon. She watched the burning village of Berk, her husband staring up at her as she was carried away, his screams echoing across the island, his screams- so full of despair- that wrenched at her already torn heart.

As her home got further and further away, soon disappearing from sight, Valka slowly processed her situation. She was cold, above cloud level, and the salty smell told her that they were flying over ocean. The dragon above her was sending cold blasts down on her with its four wings, outstretched, longer than their house. _  
><em>

It was a giant beast, unclear in the pitch black of night, lighten up only by the flames of other dragons, was stone grey, a little brown over its legs and wings, owl-like features on its face and long horns and a frill, with fins at the base of its tail, leading onto a longer tail that swept behind it, occasionally tilting its tail fins to adjust its flight.

All around her, she could hear shrieks and roars from other dragons, flame bursts and the roaring wind in her numb ears.

In fact, everything about her was numb. Firstly, her hands were freezing, she couldn't feel her toes, her ears felt like they were going to drop off, and only her torso was warm, wrapped in layers of fur and leather.

Finally, after what seemed to be moons, Valka sent out a silent thanks to Odin as land came into view. However, it was really a giant, blue, spike of ice with black mixed in, looking very intimidating. Valka wasn't sure she wanted to land there, and hoped that this dragon would fly straight past it, but it flew straight towards it, the ice soon looming over her head- even more so than her giant dragon capturer- and made her want to scream. They passed through a small hole- big enough for a large dragon, but small for the pure mass of the ice spike, landing in a dark, freezing cave. _At least, _Valka thought, _it's shelter._

But there was no light. None at all, and Valka edged back from the dragon, which was flying to a halt, landing with a thud on the ground. At that moment, she remember, back in the house, that look that it held in its eyes. It had been _her, _she was sure it was! And the way it had comforted Hiccup, after scratching his neck slightly, it couldn't be such of a beast as all dragons were made out to be, surely.

Slowly, the dragon approached her, its face coming close to hers. Without a sword for protection now, Valka backed up again the stone wall of the cave, her breath coming quickly as she widened her eyes in terror.

But the dragon seemed to be analysing her, curiosity and expectation wide in its eyes. Its horns spread out wide, making escape next to impossible, especially since she was too terrified to move.

A light suddenly flared behind the dragon, soon followed by countless others. The dragon before her stepped back, revealing many other dragons, their mouths open with a flame merrily dancing inside, like a common house fire that you would relax by and warm your feet. It was strangely eerie and calming. This was proof. These dragons weren't heartless monsters, but kind, intelligent beings.

But then, images of her life in Berk flashed across her mind. Stoick, the Dancing and the Dreaming- that wonderful dance and song she sung every morning. Hiccup. She had been so hopeful that she and Stoick could raise a family, be happy and watch their son grow up to be the next chief, perhaps even stop the fighting...

The fighting. It had been so gruesome. Throughout the entirety of her life on the small island of Berk, Valka had only ever seen fighting, fire, the Vikings getting treated or buried, the dragons being tossed into the sea like dirt, and the celebrations after they had made a kill.

Valka had never joined in with the celebrations, not even when Stoick killed a dragon, which he so often did. It never seemed right to her. These creatures were alive. They lived and breathed the same air. Sure, they had caused hazardous problems, but never had their been a doubt in her mind that there should be a solution to peace. This war, it had gone on since their ancestors had first landed their boats! You'd have thought that peace was inevitable after a while.

A silent tear slipped down Valka's stone-cold face, a rare sight to see, as thoughts of her life and family flashed through her mind. More tears began to come, the realisation that she would most likely never return, even if she managed to survive, there wasn't any possible way of returning to Berk. But she would damn well make sure that she tried!

Valka sunk down onto the cave floor, pressing her back against the wall, and hid her face, bending her knees and wrapping her arms around them tightly, sobbing into her legs as she choked down her grief. Soon, exhaustion overcame her, and Valka eventually fell into sleep, her dreams plagued with haunted visions.

**This is my first fanfiction on HTTYD, and I was really wondering what Valka's life had been like with the dragons. I'm sure that this must be a popular topic, and others will have written about it, but this is my version.**

**I'll update every week on Tuesdays, to give me time with Christmas, homework, and my other fanfictions that I'm working on, so I have more time to plan out the next chapter instead of rushing it like I always tend to do.**

**-Eagle**


	2. The Alpha and the Dragon

Valka jerked awake. She was laying on the cold ground, feeling stiff, cold and sore. Pushing up against the hard ground, she realised that she was alone in a cave. No Stoick. No Hiccup. No crying. No singing. Nothing.

Climbing to her feet, she glanced around, seeing a small entrance in the cave wall, her only exit as the entrance to the ice spike was for one, too high for her to reach, and two, there would be no point of trying considering she couldn't get anywhere from there. She headed off through her only available exit, climbing over the smooth rocks and ducking under others, struggling to get up one of them (she needed to jump from a rock to get to the top) before reaching the exit, daylight filtering through.

Walking through, she immediately gasped, a hand slowly coming up to cover her mouth. From fright or shock, she wasn't sure, just that her eyes were darting everywhere.

Dragons. They flew everywhere, some coming in from other entrances in the ice, others leaving. Baby dragons chased each other playfully, and other held mouthfuls of fish. She couldn't spot the dragon that had taken her the night before.

She was on a small platform in the ice, not much of a way of her getting down that she could see, a large dip at around twenty- fifty feet deep, and the top was dark: the tip of the ice shard. There were waterfalls tumbling from every side of the place, and Valka couldn't help but wonder where they came from.

Walking forward, Valka gasped once again. Before her, lay a giant, white dragon, taking up the majority of the space below, half in water. As dragons swooped by, they would stop and bow, before carrying on their daily business. Valka had never seen anything like this before in her life.

As she walked forward, closer to the edge, the huge, white dragon lifted its head, fixing its icy blue stare on her. Even she had to admit that it looked impressive, its head reaching her level, even lying down.

Huge horns reached before it and a large mane of icicles tipped in black on its neck lead towards its back where a giant pair of snowy, white wings sprouted. Its legs and back were covered in spikes as well as its chin, face and head.

Soon, after seemingly moons of waiting in stiff silence, the large dragon breathed a puff of icy air, frost sparkling on Valka's auburn hair. Wiping off the frost that chilled her spine, she gaped at it. _Ice? Dragons didn't breath ice, they breathed fire!_

By the way the other dragons seemed to respect this dragon, and the commanding look it had about it, Valka had no doubt that it was their leader, their _alpha._

Turning around, breaking her gaze away from the alpha, Valka let out a small scream as she spotted the dragon that had carried her here to this dragon sanctuary, stood before her, staring at her with those wide, yellow eyes.

Up close in the daylight, she could clearly see its features. Its eyes were situated right under its horns, which were placed like eyebrows, stretching out to the side of it. Horns ran up the middle of its face and up its nose, which was like a beak over its mouth, towards its frill, which was white and tipped red, just like its horns, going down to look like whiskers on the side of its face. It had a white underbelly and brown- white back. Like a Monstrous Nightmare, its wings were clawed, except one, large hook, that Valka supposed were used for climbing. There were spikes running down its tail, with fins at the base and end, the ones at the end had a fascinating blue in the middle.

Valka stepped back a little. This dragon was the one that had taken her here, had ripped her from her home. She didn't want to see it now, not ever. "Get, away." She spat, fixing the dragon with a cold glare that actually made it flinch away from her. Smirking, she turned away again, hearing the beat of its wings as it flew off.

First order of business. Food. She hadn't eaten since breakfast the day before, the dragon raid having taken up most of the day and well into the night, and she was starving, hunger pains making her clench her stomach.

She knew there must be fish in that lake below, or at least she hoped there was, considering all the dragons who would likely fish in it, but there were a few problems. The first being she had no idea how to get down, the second being there were many dragons that could make a meal out of her, another being ways to catch her food and the last being the alpha.

There were trees surrounding the area. Climbing up into a tree, she found a branch that would make a suitable spear, as began struggling to snap it off. The tree seemed sturdy and strong. This would be harder than she thought.

After a while, she finally managed to make a break, and snap the branch off the tree entirely. Then, she got out a small dagger stored in a leather pocket, one that wouldn't have made a difference against the branch or the dragon that had carried her off, and began to slice it along the tip of the branch, sharpening it to a lethal point. Then she swiped it over the rough bits in the branch, levelling down any stubs and sprouts. She decided to keep the bark, even though its was awkward, as it would rot much slower.

Getting to her feet, she glanced over the edge, spotting a steep slope leading down to earth, although getting to the slope, which began a little way down from where she was, is a different problem. Luckily, vines and moss covered the cliff side as well as the ledge that she was currently standing on, and they made good hand holds. Slowly, she lowered herself over the edge, clinging onto the moss and praying that it wouldn't slip out of her grasp.

She half climbed half slid down the cliff, some of the moss tearing out of the rock. Finally, her feet touched solid ground, and she found herself on the slope. Heaving a sigh of relief, Valka made her way down the slope, cautiously approaching the alpha. She'd need to walk past him to head to the other side of the lake, but his icy, beady eyes fixed on her, following her as she slowly walked past him.

The ground here was marshy and boggy, her feet sinking into cold water, which she ignored in her hunger. Raising her roughly made spear, she sunk it into the water, spearing a large trout.

She stored her dead fish in a watery hole in the mossy ground to keep it fresh while she fished. Again, she speared another trout and a minnow with expertise, spearing all three back onto her new weapon as she made her way back up the slope.

Climbing up the cliff again was even more difficult than climbing down, and it took her a good few minutes to even figure out how to do it. Eventually, she ended up deciding on going one handed, holding her spear in the other, however, that plan didn't end up too well.

Unable to move as quickly, the moss gave way much easier under her weight, and she fell back to the ground with a thud. Sighing, she turned around, gasping as she saw several dragons surrounding her.

There was a blue Hideous Zippleback, two Nadder Heads, green and yellow, a Gronckle and finally, a Monstrous Nightmare (which made Valka back up even more against the mossy wall).

All of them advanced, their eyes on the fish. _So they don't eat human meat? _Valka thought, surprised. _No, of course they do! Look at Gobber! Lost his arm last week! _As she pondered this, the Nightmare had made the first move, lunging forward at her spear.

Valka's eyes hardened. No way was she letting her hard earned catch get gobbled by a dragon! "No!" She yelled, holding her spear away from its reach. She fixed an icy glare on them all. The Gronckle had to look away as her eyes met its, one of the Nadders backed down and the Zippleback heads seemed to be having an argument as one of them tried backing away.

The other Nadder and the Nightmare, however, didn't back down. Advancing, they both hissed fiercely, the Nightmare snapping its jaws impatiently, and the Nadder opening its mouth wide as a green gas formed inside. That could only mean one thing...

Valka shut her eyes tight as fear rose inside her. She covered her head with her arms, but before the deadly flames could meet their mark, she heard a loud thud followed by an outraged roar.

Flinging her eyes back open, Valka spotted the dragon from earlier, tackling the Nadder, cutting off its fire as it blasted a rock miles away from where Valka was cowering. _Like a coward. _She thought angrily.

She stood up straight, watching the fight. It was very short, the owl dragon coming out on top as it sent a hostile hiss after the retreating Nadder and Nightmare. It then turned to Valka. Her first though was that it wanted the fish, but it gave her that same stare, its thin, wide mouth seeming to form a smile.

Her heart melted. She had always had a soft spot for animals, even if she did hold a grudge for her life. This dragon had just saved her from certain death, she at least owed it that. _It's your fault it even happened in the first place. _She added bitterly in an after thought, but she pushed it away.

The dragon had an apologetic look in its eye, and it glanced down at the floor. Tentatively, Valka held out her hand. If she was going to be here for presumably the rest of her life, no matter how much she hated to admit it, she would need to learn to live with dragons.

The dragon glanced up, eyed her hand warily, before pushing its head into her hand.

**Okay, a good long chapter! I want to make most of my chapters this long, somewhere between 1500 and 2000 words to each.**

**And I know this is earlier than I said it would be, but I've had this pre-written for the past few days, and I want to update the next on on Christmas day! So look forward to that! **

**Thanks for your reviews and favourites! Much appreciated, and you don't know how helpful they are!**


	3. The Stormcutter

Valka didn't say anything. She didn't think she would have if she could. It was so strange, standing there, with a dragon, a _dragon, _the most feared beast known to Viking was standing in front of her, its head pressed into her hand, a low, grumbling purr rising deep in its throat.

Slowly, the dragon straightened again. Instantly, Valka knew she could trust it. Ever since it had taken her here, it had shown no hostility or murderous intentions, just a strong sense of curiosity and reliability. Cautiously, she moved her hand to rest on top if its horns, before running down its back.

The dragon made no move, just turned to look at her expectantly. Her breath shaky, Valka laid her hands on its back before its wings, swinging herself over between its neck and a spike on its back. Her spear was still in her hand, just in case.

But the dragon didn't do anything to shake her off, but crouched. For a second, Valka wondered what was going on, before she realised that its wings were spread wide. Before she had a chance to scream, it took off, the jerk forcing her to reach forward and grab its frill in terror. The rush of air that greeted her felt so...free. She felt all of her worries leave her mind, her mind drifting to wondrous thoughts. Without thinking, she gave out a loud "whoop" of joy, sitting up straight.

The dragon carried her back up again, landing on the overhanging ledge on the cliff- side. Valka slipped off the dragon, and it turned to face her, a grin plastered on its face, much like Valka. For once, she felt no fear or resentment towards this dragon, just gratefulness. "Thank you!" She cried happily.

The dragon let out a rumbling purr, pushing its head towards her, making her stumble backwards, but she patted its horns anyway, grinning happily. Valka hadn't felt that alive in such a long time! Sure, she had felt happy and content, but never had she felt as free as she had in that moment.

She turned away from it to find some fire wood to cook her fish with, the dragon keeping close behind, which, for once, Valka didn't argue with. Heading back to a small cluster of trees, she swung herself up and snapped off a few branches, leaving the logs for once the fire got started. Once she had a good armful, she headed back into the cave, so she didn't set fire to the moss, and set down the branches.

The dragon wasn't happy about this, as he didn't easily fit inside. "Just wait there." Valka told it, trying to light the fire with two stones. After several failed attempts, she gave up, throwing her stones across the cave with a growl of frustration, the stones breaking as they hit the wall. Valka heard a puff and then the immediate crackle of flames right after. Spinning around, she spotted the dragon spitting some flames into her stick pile, instantly setting them alight.

Nodding her thanks, she began slowly cooking her fish, her stomach giving off a loud growl.

Once they were finished cooking, Valka took the three fish away from the fire and out of the cave, sitting down with her back against the cliff. The dragon settled down beside her, looking at her fish expectantly. "Oh go catch your own." Valka said with a roll of her eyes, digging into her slightly undercooked minnow. She never had been very good at cooking.

The dragon did as it was told, and flew of the ledge, arriving back soon after with a mouthful of fish. After swallowing them, a sickly noise could be heard. Narrowing her eyes, Valka turned to look at the dragon, seeing it regurgitating a fish, before looking at Valka expectantly.

"Erm." She said, wrinkling her nose. That looked vile even for her standards. "I'm good, thanks." The dragon didn't argue, gobbling it up again.

As Valka was moving onto a trout, a bunch of baby dragons came flying over towards her little ledge, a species she hadn't ever seen before. They were quite small and thin, with a large frill fanning out on its head (unlike the other dragon, who's frill was bone whereas this one's was flesh) a small stump on its nose which Valka guessed was a horn and small wings considering the size of its body. Its tail fin was much like the frill on its head, and was shaped the same, going only down one side of the tail, instead of two like the other one.

Seeing them, snuffling around, clambering over each other and grunting, she saw that they changed colour. She decided on giving them the name, Hobblegrunt, after the way they moved and sounded.

Seeing Valka, they flew on over towards her, clambering over her and the dragon beside her. "Hey!" She laughed, pushing one away from her face. "On on! Get out of here!"

The other dragon seemed to have something else in mind, and gave a loud roar, scaring the baby dragons away so that they flew on over to the alpha to bother him instead.

Laughing, Valka decided she'd better give this dragon a name too, otherwise she'd be calling it "dragon", "other dragon, and "the dragon that took her away". Seeing it, the loud roar and pattern on its scales, plus its bold and daring personality, she decided on Stormcutter, for the breed anyway. She didn't want to give it a name, less they get too attached. _But would that be such a bad thing?_

She was already hanging out with dragons like her own people in Berk. The Stormcutter sitting beside her contentedly, watching the baby dragons play on the alpha. Valka followed his gaze, grinning as she watched the life go one. The children were playing, dragons flew about, bowing to their leader, before carrying on. They were very social, she realised, definitely _not _the vicious monsters that Viking believed they were.

They greeted each other like humans would, if not even more friendly than that. They would approach and begin squawking and making the sounds that dragons made, all in touch with one another.

She watched a pack of Terrible Terror all dive into the lake as one, bringing out a fish twice the size of any individual. Monstrous Nightmare, Nadders, Gronckles, Zipplebacks- all the common dragons, but then there was the Hobblegrunts, Changewings and even a Skrill, which Valka had never seen outside of a lightning storm and even it, being a stubborn and arrogant dragon, bowed down to the alpha.

There was also a bunch of dragons that were not in the Book of Dragons, like an electric blue dragon that had a beak like a sword fish and another electric blue dragon that seemed to glow, but was much wider than the sword fish dragon. Soon, she found herself naming these dragons, the species.

A Seashocker for the first one, as they greatly resembled the sea, and by the way they flew about the lake, it was a fitting name. Flightmare for the next one, Fireworm, Rumblehorn, Typhoomerang, Speed Stinger...

Even classing them. Stoker class, Bolder class, Tidal class. She was having a great time. Turning to look at the Stormcutter, she said, "Thank you."

**Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! You have no idea how much revision I had to do to get all of these names correct, and yes, I know in the series (which I have only just begun watching as they reveal a lot more dragons), they name a lot of the dragons that Valka has named, but I decided to over-look that fact for the sake of the story. And I know quite a lot of these dragons might not actually live there, but hey, I had to cross out the Skrill and the Screaming Death, because after watching the series, it's clear they're too wild.**


	4. First Flight

**a random person: That's actually a really good idea! I never thought of that! I'll be sure to include that later on in the story!**

"Alright boy." Valka muttered, placing her hands on the Stormcutter's back. "Let's just take this nice and slow." He seemed to agree, for he bumped her arm with his head, a low grumbling purr sounding deep in his throat.

She hoisted herself up onto his back, the dragon raising up into the air. "Oh, Thor's hammer!" She gasped, still not used to the shock. She didn't complain though, and held onto his frill. "Right, take up round. I'd like to get a good look at this place." She told him.

He set off at a rather slow speed, thankfully for Valka. There were giant stone pillars slanting across the place, and it didn't look as though the inside was ice at all, what with plants and vines growing around them. Dragons flew in herds, a huge line of them flying around the sanctuary.

Valka let out a huge whoop of joy, spreading her arms wide. "Oh what're you doing? Speed up a little will you?" She cried happily, feeling the wind in her hair, the exhilaration overwhelming. The Stormcutter did as he was told, putting on a burst of speed until they were slicing through the air. Valka had to hold onto his frill to keep balanced, leaning forwards with her eyes focused.

Without really having to think about it, she was giving commands, well commands is a little strong, instructions, and the Stormcutter obeyed them without question. Quite soon, she just had to lean and the dragon would go that way, unless of course, she was falling, where he would slow right down until she got her balance.

He brought her right around the Sanctuary, flying in-amongst the hoard of other dragons, none of which seemed hostile. Valka supposed she must have taken on the Stormcutter's scent over the past few days, so they thought nothing of it.

Admittedly, it wasn't the most comfortable thing, dragon riding. She bounced all over the place, so she needed to rhythm herself with the movement of the Stormcutter, and it was also quite difficult to focus as she was so concentrated on keeping her balance that she couldn't take notice of anything else.

She listened to the beating of his four wings, the whistling of the wind in her ears, the tricking water far below, the roars and screeches of the dragons surrounding her and the Stormcutter's deep, heavy breathing, the clearest of all of those noises.

Eventually, they came to a halt before the alpha, where the Stormcutter dipped his broad head. Hesitating, Valka slipped off of his back, and did the same. The huge, white, ice-breathing dragon snorted, and she took that as a signal that they could leave. She hoisted herself back onto the dragon's back, and they took off again.

_Hopefully now that I've been accepted by the alpha, the other dragons will accept me too._

But that though didn't come to pass over the next few days. Wherever she went, a dragon would always be there, be it friendly or not, and the Stormcutter would always need to come to her rescue, which Valka did _not _appreciate.

She sighed and turned to her dragon. "Look, I appreciate your help, but I can handle myself." She told it, still unsure whether it even understood her or not. She took its snort of disbelief to mean that it could. "Well, I can learn to!" She said defensively, patting his head.

Her hand unconsciously went to scratch his chin, but the Stormcutter immediately dropped to the ground. Valka leaped out of the way so that he didn't land on her, fearful, but realised his long, thin mouth was curved in a smile of pleasure. "Do you like that do you?"

He glanced up at her, raising his head again. Valka grinned and settled down again, petting him, something she wouldn't even dream about a mere week ago.

**Okay, sort of a filler chapter, and I realise it is under 1000 words, definitely shorter than planned, but I have explanations. The first being writers block, the other being my internet is horrible, explaining why the chapter is up late. So far, there is nothing I can do about bad internet, so I'll update whenever it's working, and I'll keep you all posted.**


	5. Cloudjumper

**LorreCarguhl: Thank you! And sorry for the long wait, I explain why at the bottom of the chapter.**

Over the next few days, Valka had made a habit of flying the Stormcutter around the Sanctuary as long as the dragon was up for it. She loved to feel the wind slipping smoothly passed her face, so unlike the wind at Berk, that whipped harshly against you, forcing you back and making you stagger and having to endure the banging and crashing of doors as they were forced open and closed. Flying was such a different experience. Even if the winds of Berk were burning her face, she doubted she would even notice.

This was one of the only things that took up her time, the other being using her new knowledge with the dragons. Having spent the last week with the Stormcutter, she'd picked up so many more things about them that she hadn't the slightest clue about before. She'd learned how to subdue them temporarily as she made an escape, how to befriend them and make so they wouldn't attack, in other words, train them. The other day, a hostile Nadder had approached, spikes bristling on its tail and eyes narrowed. She'd been able to show it that she wasn't a threat and the dragon had allowed her to smooth down the spikes on its tail, grinning at her with the smile only a dragon could manage.

Soon after, she had befriended many of the dragons in the Sanctuary, having some approach her and nuzzle her before being chased off by an irritable Stormcutter. She was quite confident that she could approach any dragon in the Sanctuary, maybe except an angry Nightmare, something she wasn't sure she would ever have the nerve to even try.

"Right, ready for another fly?" Valka said after stripping the last morsel of fish from it's burned carcass. The Stormcutter purred and pushed his head towards her affectionately before lowering his wings as usual to allow her to climb on. They took off, Valka expecting them to take their usual route around the Sanctuary, one that never got old as it would for many others, but instead found herself being carried in a straight line towards the landing and cave where she had first set eyes on the Sanctuary and the Alpha.

"Hey, what-?" She cut off as she felt herself skidding off of his leathery wing as he leaned onto his side before taking flight again, heading straight up the stony cliff side. Valka stared after him, perplexed and watched as he flew around over the cliff and out of sight. "Oi! Come 'ere!" She yelled angrily, but not so much as a sound greeted her yells.

Seething, she leaned against the cliff wall and only had to wait a few moments before she heard a familiar, rumbling shriek, echoing from the other side of the narrow tunnel. Eyes widening fearfully, she dashed down the tunnel, ducking and leaping over rocks, scraping her bare wrists against the cave wall in her urgency but hardly taking any notice.

Emerging at the other end, she found not her dragon, locked in a fearsome battle with some other dragon, but the Stormcutter perched on the edge of the exit to the outside, where clouds lounged in a brilliant blue sky. Taking no notice of the weather, Valka shot a cold glare at her dragon. "Why'd you leave me like that? Why are we here anyway?" She snapped irritably. Her dragon, unperturbed by her coldness, leaped down and bounded towards her, lowering his wings for her to climb on. "But-" Valka cut off yet again as she pieced it together. The only place for them to fly was outside, there were no other places in this cave that they would be able to fly to, which would explain why he had dropped her off at the tunnel entrance and flew a different way, as it was much too narrow for a dragon of his size to be able to fit through there.

She climbed on, leaving to time to spare, as they sped through the gaping hole out towards the beautiful blue sky, the sun beaming fondly in a large gap between two huge clouds. Dragons flew from every direction, passing in and out of the Sanctuary, others just bypassing. There was, in fact, land nearby, and not sea and Valka had first assumed. Instead was a lake, not the vast ocean that could be seen south from where they were, stretching out far beyond the eye could see, making Valka wonder briefly how far away Berk was, and if it was just beyond sight or many, many miles away.

A forest stretched for a while just ahead, leading up to the sea, but she assumed that the Stormcutter would be able to clear it in a matter of seconds at full speed. Flocks of geese squawked loudly as dragons dived in on them from above, emerging with a dead bird or two in its grasp. The same went for the forest, dragons swooping down among the trees as birds flew up in flocks to escape.

The wind whipped her hair and face in a frenzy, as they rose into the sky, so much like the winds of Berk but up in the sky, she hardly even felt the cold, even through her thin parka.

The Stormcutter was flying up towards the clouds in a sort of crazed freedom. Valka supposed that he must have been craving the outside world just as much as she, and a week seemed so much longer when not doing anything productive, as on Berk, she had spent every day of her life outside, helping with the fishing, logging and dragon hunting (although she always seemed to miss with the axe as her dragon escaped).

They flew straight through the clouds, emerging into the blue above, soaked, feeling the fresh spray fly off of the Stormcutter's wings. It was so fresh, unlike the spray off the sea, salty and stinging in the harsh wind. Without warning, the dragon began diving in and out of the clouds, bounding through them like a squirrel in it's tree. _Cloudjumper. _The name popped into her head, and the dragon was labelled before she had even noticed.

Soon they were swooping low over the canopy of the forest, then over the clear water of a small lake in-amongst the trees, Cloudjumper and her reflected, disorientate on the rippling water by the wind.

For how much longer they were out there, Valka didn't know nor did she care. Just that the sun was setting by the time they got back. She slipped off his back and had wrapped him in a tight hug. "Thank you Cloudjumper!"

**Well, that was sweet.**

**I need to apologise for the long wait and I can't even remember the last time I updated. The internet has a huge part to do with it, the wind having knocked over three electric poles and causing a blackout. The other two reasons being school and major procrastination.**

**I also need to ask for a couple weeks just to myself. Give me some time to get a few more chapters planned out, get my head wrapped around things and just let my internet sort itself out. Hope you understand. Again, this goes for all of my stories as I am writing four series including this one, it's quite difficult to keep on top of things. Also, sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, in a rush as we're going on a trip in the morning.**


End file.
